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Test to detect superparasites
Dopamine – A substance with many messages
Study of psychosis risk and brain to track effects of omega-3 pills
Lungs respond to hospital ventilator as if it were an infection
Environmental concerns increasing infectious disease in amphibians
Harmful Effects of Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs to Skin
Protein Build-Up Leads to Neurons Misfiring
Police need sleep for health, performance
El Zotz masks yield insights into Maya beliefs
Spouses of severe-sepsis patients at high risk of depression
University of Central Florida Discovers Exoplanet Neighbor -- University's First Planet
Female money doesn't buy male happiness

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 06:46 AM PDT

Scientists of the Institute of Tropical Medicine made a breakthrough in bridging high tech molecular biology research on microbial pathogens and the needs of the poorest of the poor. After sequencing the complete genome of Leishmania donovani (a parasite causing one of the most important tropical diseases after malaria) in hundreds of clinical isolates, they identified a series of mutations specific of ‘superparasites’ and developed a simple assay that should allow tracking them anywhere.

Dopamine – A substance with many messages

Posted: 19 Jul 2012 05:59 AM PDT

Children quickly learn to avoid negative situations and seek positive ones. But humans are not the only species capable of remembering positive and negative events; even the small brain of a fruit fly has this capacity. Dopamine-containing nerve cells connected with the mushroom body of the fly brain play a role here. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried have identified four different types of such nerve cells.

Study of psychosis risk and brain to track effects of omega-3 pills

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 04:24 PM PDT

The first major study on the biological effects of omega-3 fatty acids on the human brain is focusing on the role that this natural substance, primarily found in fish oil, may play in fighting psychosis.

Emory University recently launched the first phase of the double-blind, clinical trial of a specific combination of omega-3 fatty acid supplements, which will ultimately involve about 160 participants, and researchers from eight universities.

Lungs respond to hospital ventilator as if it were an infection

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 04:12 PM PDT

When hospital patients need assistance breathing and are placed on a mechanical ventilator for days at a time, their lungs react to the pressure generated by the ventilator with an out-of-control immune response that can lead to excessive inflammation, new research suggests.

While learning that lungs perceive the ventilation as an infection, researchers also discovered potential drug targets that might reduce the resulting inflammation - a tiny piece of RNA and two proteins that have roles in the immune response.

Environmental concerns increasing infectious disease in amphibians

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 10:43 AM PDT

Environmental concerns increasing infectious disease in amphibians

Climate change, habitat destruction, pollution and invasive species are all involved in the global crisis of amphibian declines and extinctions, researchers suggest in a new analysis, but increasingly these forces are causing actual mortality in the form of infectious disease.

Harmful Effects of Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs to Skin

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 10:33 AM PDT

Inspired by a European study, a team of Stony Brook University researchers looked into the potential impact of healthy human skin tissue (in vitro) being exposed to ultraviolet rays emitted from compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. The results, “The Effects of UV Emission from CFL Exposure on Human Dermal Fibroblasts and Keratinocytes in Vitro,” were published in the June issue of the journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology.

Protein Build-Up Leads to Neurons Misfiring

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 10:16 AM PDT

Using a two-photon microscope capable of peering deep within living tissue, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found new evidence that alpha-synuclein protein build-up inside neurons causes them to not only become “leaky,” but also to misfire due to calcium fluxes.

Police need sleep for health, performance

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 10:08 AM PDT

Forget bad guys and gunfire: Being a police officer can be hazardous to your health in other ways.

El Zotz masks yield insights into Maya beliefs

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 10:00 AM PDT

A team of archaeologists led by Stephen Houston has made a new discovery at the Maya archaeological site in El Zotz, Guatemala, uncovering a pyramid believed to celebrate the Maya sun god. The structure's outer walls depict the god in an unprecedented set of images done in painted stucco. In 2010, the team uncovered a royal tomb filled with artifacts and human remains at the same site. Researchers believe the pyramid was built to link the deceased lord to the eternal sun.

Spouses of severe-sepsis patients at high risk of depression

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 09:52 AM PDT

Severe sepsis, a body’s dangerous defensive response against an infection, not only diminishes the quality of life for patients – it puts their spouses at a greater risk of depression, a joint University of Michigan Health System and University of Washington School of Medicine study shows.

Wives whose husbands were hospitalized for severe sepsis were nearly four times more likely to experience substantial depressive symptoms, according to the study released July 18 ahead of the August publish date in Critical Care Medicine.

University of Central Florida Discovers Exoplanet Neighbor -- University's First Planet

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 09:10 AM PDT

The University of Central Florida has detected what could be its first planet, only two-thirds the size of Earth and located right around the corner, cosmically speaking, at a mere 33-light years away.

The exoplanet candidate called UCF 1.01, is close to its star, so close it goes around the star in 1.4 days. The planet’s surface likely reaches temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The discoverers believe that it has no atmosphere, is only two-thirds the gravity of Earth and that its surface may be volcanic or molten.

Female money doesn't buy male happiness

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 08:15 AM PDT

Macho men whose partners earn more than they do have worse romantic relationships, in part because the difference in income is a strain for them, according to a new study by Patrick Coughlin and Jay Wade from Fordham University in the US.

Conversely, men who are not so traditional in their masculinity do not place as much importance on the difference in income and, as a result, appear to have better quality relationships with their female partner. The work is published online in Springer's journal Sex Roles.